How Doctors Redefined Death. Is it as binary as it seems?

by Rohin Francis, MBBS, Medlife Crisis

Modern technology has blurred the lines of life and death to a confusing extent. Heart transplant operations changed the definition of death. The external corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine can keep a person “alive” with no heart or lung in their body. The video, made in 2020, says ECMO is mostly used for newborns, but it was used fairly often on adults during the Covid pandemic.

In New York and New Jersey, a family can legally oppose the diagnosis of death if it contradicts their religious belief.

Listen or read the transcript on Medpage Today of this excellent video to hear the results of a study of how survival rates of cardiac arrest were portrayed in British medical TV shows compared to how they were portrayed on the American TV shows House and Grey’s Anatomy.